Fall Fab Fit Fun

 

Tra la la...it is time for the Fall Fab Fit Fun box unveiling.  Yeah try to say three times fast.  It seems like it was not to long ago that I was just unwrapping the summer box.

 

 

This season it was once again packed with amazing amounts of goodness. Do what the box kind of says and grab your pumpkin spice latte and let's jump right in shall we...

 

1.  Gift Card to the Jewelers Wife - Now the hardest part of this will  be what to use on.  There are so many cute things.

2.  Tribe Alive Bracelet - This glass crystal bracelet is beautiful.  Extra bonus is that Tribe Alive works with artesian partners to employ impoverished women. 

3. Purple Purse Charm by All state Foundation Purple Purse - Perfect addition to my fave purse plus it helps spread awareness about domestic violence.

 

Strength Tubing and accompanying Total Body Tone video.  Let me just step up to the plate already and get my butt kicked.

 

1. Battery Pack - Honestly I think a person can never have enough battery packs especially when you use your phone to take pictures.

 

2. Gift Card by Picture on Canvas - Now again I get to decide what to order.  We have been looking for a new picture for one of the walls, so this will come in super handy.

 

3. Umbrella - You know a person can never have to many umbrellas especially when you really just want to twirl with one in circles even if it is not raining. 

 

1. Flawless Skin Fluid by Doctor D. Schwab - I used this a few times and liked how my skin was after using it.  It didn't make my skin all crabbie either.  Sadly though I feel it is  a little perfumey for my tastes.

 

2. Lucky Lip Stain by Manna Kadar Cosmetics - Love this for a low key makeup day.  The fact that it is a primer, lip gloss and stain makes it perfect for on the go.

 

3. Gold Radiance Luxury Facial Mask by Passport to Beauty - Need to try this out yet.

 

4. 3D White Brilliance System by Crest - Since I am all about the flavor, it was not terrible.  Does it do what it says, well with only a small amount to try...hard to tell.

 

And there you have my fall fab fit fun box....there were so many things that I loved in this box I can not even pick a favorite.  Now to patiently wait to see what the winter one shall bring.

 

 

Ghosts of Weekends Past - Little Old Man

First the boring...our jetskis are winterized and parked, the house has been cleaned, my new dryer works amazing, and the outside is ready for the arrival of old man winter.  I even broke down and turned on the furnace this weekend...only because the low was 26 degrees, almost made it to November 1st.

Now the main event where this last weekend found us celebrating my little old man, Bullet's birthday.  It is so hard to believe that he is 10 years old already.  I will never forget the day we brought him home and all the adventures that we have had since then.  His weekend could be summed up with steak and cake.

The vultures awaiting mom to cut the cake...

 

The gifts...

 

And yes we have to get three because those boys do not share and even with three we still end up breaking up fights.

 

Since Bullet is my outdoor dog, I also took him for a walk on the marsh.

 

One thing he didn't get for his birthday were those darn geese that kept messing with him.....maybe another year.

 

Aside from it being all about Bullet, we did go out to eat with the parents on Saturday night.  It was a place that we have never have been to before.  The food and service was absolutely amazing.  My hubbie even got his very first growler of beer to take home.  We literally stuffed ourselves and laughed ourselves silly....it was a great night.  Now I will leave you with the delicious glory.

 

Short but sweet...but that was how the weekend went.  And another Happy Birthday to my grumpy old man!

 

Ghosts of Weekends Past - Our little Fall fest

 

This weekend past found us having a little mini fall fest.  The whole idea of this came out of the fact that we would not have the steppie Labor day weekend and needed to have our annual cooking contest.  I can happily say that I am so glad we came up with this little plan aka we are doing this again in the future.

 

Friday night found me tying up some loose ends and getting on the road to head up north. Sadly the hubbie had to sit the weekend out due to a horrible cold. I was so grateful my parents made it to the land before me and moved the trailer.  Basically Friday night consisted of the Steppie and I driving there, settling in, and trying to sleep.  Notice here the trying to sleep.  We discovered Friday evening that the furnace fan, after the furnace has been running for a period of time, makes a god awful noise.  The noise of course stops after a minute or two, but when that heater kicks back in later it starts all over again.  It will be going into the dealer for this little problem.

 

After a long night, we had breakfast Saturday morning and headed into town with my parents.  There was a stop at the hardware store to purchase an electric heater for the next night.  I would be damned if I was going to not sleep again.  In the afternoon we were joined by the other teenagers, Forest and Miss K.

 

I then took the teenagers on a little trip to Rabbit Rock for some exploring/climbing. 

 

Now one of the things about Rabbit Rock is that it is basically a big clump of sand.  This makes it super easy for carving.

 

Of course you have to put your initial in.  Then there was Forest trying to do it the hard way again...

 

Many moons ago when I went there, there was a very old mountain dew can on a carved in shelf.  Now this can was there for the longest time...you could tell the can opened via a pull back tab.  Somehow, sadly, last year that can went missing.  It had been sitting there for such a long period you could see the deterioration occurring around the can.  Low and behold this year I happened to see another mountain dew can laying on the trail (not cool people, clean up your liter), so I placed the up dated Mountain Dew can version on the shelf.  Hopefully it shall remain for many years to come and someone will be like "damn that's old". 

 

 

While we were on the bottom area, I took the chance to play the ISO on my camera since I was thinking of upgrading my camera (more on this another day).   Reading and learning a little more about ISO made a huge difference in the pictures I took.  This picture was taken on the auto setting of the camera.

Now the next picture I went into the menu and adjusted the ISO (sorry don't recall to what).

 



It made such a huge difference.  I am anxious to work with this more.  Then it was time to get into the real climbs.

 

The steppie was going to conquer the highest point.



 

And Miss K the second highest point.

Both of them made it....and I can only imagine the view from the highest point.

Seeing the picture of the steppie above sitting on the top rock...I now understand how it got the name "rabbit rock".  It looks like a bunny sitting.

 



All three of the teenagers sitting on the second highest point.

 

The Forest and I watching Miss K attempt the highest point

Of course she made it.  Then it was back to camp for a little pumpkin painting fun. 

 



 

Dinner for our little fall fest was chili with all the fixings, of course.

 



 

Dessert came courtesy of our little food contest, which this year was cookies.  I was super impressed that we had such a great variety.

 

Now onto the winners.  This years winner for the first time was....

 

Forest

 

Next up the pumpkin contest winner.....

 

Gillian

 

Now all of the pumpkins.  As you will be able to tell the teens had a little super hero theme going on.

 

Grandma's was the dots and mine which looks like a jack o lantern was really my form of spiderman.

 

Our evening ended with a little outdoor movie.  The projector and speakers were definitely a great idea.

 

Saturday night we slept peacefully with the new heater.

 

Sunday, we ran for some donuts before we had to get to work.  Sunday was a pure work day.  We had to finish getting my trailer ready for winter.  Aside from finishing up the last of the winterizing the water lines, we did a major cleaning to ensure that there would be nothing to attract any unwelcome critters.  Then we moved it over to it's place for the winter.

 

I came home Sunday to our dryer deciding that its lifetime was up, so needless to say part of Sunday evening was spent at the laundry mat.  Just so you know Sunday evenings at the laundry mat are very busy. 

 

That was our wonderful little weekend celebrating everything that is fall....and my new dryer will be arriving on Friday....really that laundry mat was scary.

 

 



Show Me Your Books - September

 

Not sure the where or the whys that I had stumbled upon this book, but it intrigued me.  For one hot moment, it was like the whole Parisian concept was a topic.  Curiosity got the best of me and I had to get a better understanding of the fascination.

 

Overall, the book was ok.  It was kind of written like a manual.   The basic concept that I took away was casual beauty is the key to being a Parisian.   Here though were a few more items that stood out:

 

 

1. You Don't have to spend a decade's worth of salary on your wardrobe, or flaunt designer brands the whole time. All you need is one signature item: the one you wear when you need to feel strong. (30)

 

2. Take care of the skin first and avoid using foundations.  Let your inner beauty shine thru.

 

3. The Essentials: Jeans, mens shoes, the bag, little black blazer, ballet flats, white  scarf, big sunglasses etc.

 

4. A mother's advice on love:  "Love alone is not enough. You have to work at it."  "Be financially independent, so that you love only for love" "When you no longer want to love each other, it's that you're still in love. When you still want to love each other, it's that you've fallen out of love" (146)

 

5. Throw coffee grounds down the drain, never in the trash. They help degrease the plumbing and remove bad smells. (220)

 

Out of those five points the mother's advice on love was by far my favorite.  And quite possibly the coffee grounds down the drain, I have never heard of this before have you?

 

Overall it was an interesting very quick read.  If you are looking for a glimpse of Parisian concepts, this is a great book.

 

Linking up with Steph and Jana

 

Ghosts of Weekends Past - Fresh and New

The start of my weekend found me still getting better from this horrible cold that took a grip on me last week.  Friday evening though I sucked it up and went with the hubbie to check out a new Mexican restaurant.  Walking in we had high hopes, sadly though I was disappointed. Now the hubbie thinks this could be because I was sick.  I think La Tapatia has the bar set pretty high for me.

Saturday morning found me checking out a new to me salon in town.  They just recently remodeled.

I loved what they did with the space and was very happy with the person who did my hair.  Needless to say after my appointment I am on "trend" and will be going back.

We will disregard the fact that my mommie wants to cut the bangs a little more...I am adjusting and we are "training" them.  Who knew training hair was a thing.

 

After all that excitement, I grabbed my mom and we hung out for some of the afternoon. Hence her seeing the fresh new do and wanting to cut the bangs even more.

 

We hit the library for some books and then off to Shopko for some more cold meds for me.  Then we checked out a new coffee shop.  I have been wanting to try this for quite some time.

The coffee was wonderful and prices were right. It is called The Opendoor Coffee House. Think we will leave this a brief mention here and go back to do some serious snooping.  This place deserves its very own exploration post.

 

Then leave it up to my mommie to talk me into going to the apple orchard.  Really there was serious arm twisting going on...basically like two words "apple pie".  Why yes please, let's go.  So we took the scenic route to the apple orchard.  I got apple pie, apples (honey crisp), and caramel apples.

 

By this time it was time for me to get my bootie back home and get some dinner started.  It became Sunday dinner on Saturday.  We feasted like no ones business.  I used my new rice cooker to make some cauliflower, which became mashed cauliflower.  And we had shrimp, steak, acorn squash and funky, homemade coleslaw. 

 

Our evening was finished with grabbing some pumpkins with the teenagers and watching "The Lovely Bones", since I finished the book.  My mother also managed to finish the book in like one night, just saying she reads like a boss.  Don't waste your time with the movie...just read the book.

 

Sunday just seemed to be a lazy day aka no ambition to get off my bum and get things done.  It took forever for me to get my normal Sunday stuff done.  Of course there was an interruption in the programming to go watch two of the teenagers in one of the local parades.

 

 

Kid goes into work and gets paid to ride in the parade, say what?!?

 

Then the next interruption came in the way of a dear friend Mr. Patron. Sometimes you need a little help and moment for a shot or two of forgetting your days dilemmas.

 

Needless to say everything got done and Sunday came to a close.

 

How was your weekend....any new discoveries?